NASHVILLE – Food Marketing Institute (FMI) and the Foundation for Meat and Poultry Research and Education, the foundation for the North American Meat Institute, released their 13th annual exploration into the meat planning, shopping and consumption habits of consumers. The Power of Meat 2018 identifies megatrends influencing meat purchases, including transparency; convenience; value; personalization; customer service; and health and wellness.

Shoppers Desire Resources that Educate about Meat/Poultry

“More than 50 percent of shoppers say they have limited knowledge of meat and poultry, and the research demonstrates that shoppers who are more knowledgeable about meat tend to purchase an extensive variety of meats and cook with meat more often,” FMI Vice President of Fresh Foods, Rick Stein, said. “The research makes me enthusiastic for the teaching opportunities the entire industry can embrace to forge better relationships with shoppers, offering resources for meat and poultry preparation methods.”

Shoppers Finding Nutrition Information; Seeking Transparency

While preparation knowledge can be lacking, consumers are finding the health and nutrition information on meat and poultry choices that they seek as 79 percent of shoppers feel there is sufficient information available to make educated decisions on the nutrition and healthfulness of various meat and poultry cuts. This is up from 69 percent in 2016 — the last time the Power of Meat tracked this question.

Nutrition is a key focus area for consumers, as seven in 10 shoppers are interested in a variety of package sizes for portion control as well as dietary callouts/information on pack, led by protein content, total fat and sodium. The research also shows that transparency is driving purchases as consumers seek products with more information pertaining to corporate and social responsibility practices among companies.

“Meat and poultry companies have responded to the demand for more information about their products, offering a range of options including natural, organic, hormone free and antibiotic free, which have proven popular with consumers,” said Meat Institute President and CEO Barry Carpenter. “The industry has also developed numerous resources to help educate consumers about how our products are made from our Glass Walls videos to Meat MythCrushers to the MyMeatUp app developed to help shoppers navigate the meat department.”

Shoppers Explore Convenience for the Meat/Poultry Purchase

This year, one of the most notable trends in channel choice suggested shoppers are more comfortable with the idea of purchasing meat online – with the share of shoppers who have bought meat online at least once up from four percent in 2015 to 19 percent in 2018. Other considerations are the increased pull from conventional supermarkets by both the premier fresh and value grocers.

Embodying the desire for convenience and opportunities in omnichannel and assortment, more shoppers are frequently purchasing value-added meat/poultry, increasing from nine percent in 2016 to 21 percent in 2018.

The Power of Meat was conducted by 210 Analytics and is made possible by Sealed Air’s Food Care Division.

MyMeatUp app: More than 15,000 have downloaded this guide to meat at retail in its first year. It was updated in the fall to allow people to search where their meat comes from by inputting the establishment number listed on the package.

About FMI

Food Marketing Institute proudly advocates on behalf of the food retail industry, which employs nearly 5 million workers and represents a combined annual sales volume of almost $800 billion. FMI member companies operate nearly 33,000 retail food stores and 12,000 pharmacies. FMI membership includes the entire spectrum of food retail venues; single owner grocery stores, large multi-store supermarket chains, pharmacies, online and mixed retail stores. Through programs in public affairs, food safety, research, education, health and wellness and industry relations, FMI offers resources and provides valuable benefits to almost 1,000 ­­­food retail and wholesale member companies and serves 85 international retail member companies. In addition, FMI has almost 500 associate member companies that provide products and services to the food retail industry. For more information, visit www.fmi.org and for information regarding the FMI Foundation, visit www.fmifoundation.org.

About the Foundation for Meat and Poultry Research and Education

The Foundation for Meat and Poultry Research and Education (Foundation) is a non-profit research, education and information foundation established to identify strategies that enable the meat and poultry industry to produce better, safer products and to operate more efficiently. The Foundation engages leaders from industry, academia and government to advance scientific understanding related to food safety, nutrition, the environment, animal welfare and worker safety, among other issues. The Foundation does not engage in policymaking, but provides scientific evidence and context to governmental agencies as needed. The Foundation also provides resources to consumers to empower them with information to select and prepare safe and nutritious meat and poultry products for their families. http://meatpoultryfoundation.org/pages/about